_________________Have you ever loved someone so much you didn't care what happened to yourself?
You Just had to be with them.
If they look at you, your heart stops.
If you feel their breath on your skin, you just ache.
Have you ever craved someone so much you didn't exist anymore?

Whats's your inspiration for this particular design Chris? Also, can you please ask that elephant to move - it makes it hard to see part of yr tattoo...

_________________"If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun." - The Dalai Lama, May 2001 at "Educating Heart Summit" in Portland, OR.http://www.a-human-right.com - http://www.aware.org

The inspiration for this design comes from a few things so I will go through it bit by bit.
The elephant, was a natural choice for me, as I have always liked elephants. The design comes from photo's of elephants carved into an indian temple.
The clouds and Cherry blossoms come from the fact that I like Japanese woodblock and Japanese tattooing. The Cherry blossoms have a few different meanings, one of which is transition, which fits me pretty well at the moment.
Around and underneath the elephant are chinese good luck bats and a longevity symbol. These were suggested by the tattooist and I really liked how they looked and the symbology behind them.
It was then a matter of putting it all together.

_________________Have you ever loved someone so much you didn't care what happened to yourself?
You Just had to be with them.
If they look at you, your heart stops.
If you feel their breath on your skin, you just ache.
Have you ever craved someone so much you didn't exist anymore?

Yesterday I had another 3 hour session on the tattoo which involved shading and a bit of colour.
The clouds are shaded in a few different tones of grey and there is shading between the elephant and the bats (At the moment it doesn't look grey but a reddish colour, so I'm looking forward to seeing how it looks once it has settled down)
Colour was added to the symbol behind the elephant.
It didn't seem to hurt as much as the outlines, but maybe that is just because I am getting use to the process. It felt like a kitten scratching you, repeatedly in the same spot.
I will post photos soon, when things have healed a bit.

_________________Have you ever loved someone so much you didn't care what happened to yourself?
You Just had to be with them.
If they look at you, your heart stops.
If you feel their breath on your skin, you just ache.
Have you ever craved someone so much you didn't exist anymore?

Here is a photo, showing some of the shading etc that was done on my last visit.
Sorry about the quality of the photo, I took it with my phone

_________________Have you ever loved someone so much you didn't care what happened to yourself?
You Just had to be with them.
If they look at you, your heart stops.
If you feel their breath on your skin, you just ache.
Have you ever craved someone so much you didn't exist anymore?

I had another session on Wednesday, which involved adding colour. The session was just under 3 hours, but it went really quickly, most of the time was taking up by the bats that surround the elephant etc. When it came to doing these I was a little unsure as to whether I wanted them shaded grey, or whether I wanted them to be coloured. I thought about it and decided that with the elephant, the clouds, and the shading between the longevity symbol and the bats all in grey, that I probably needed some colour ( I think if they were grey it might have been a bit boring). When they were done, I was quite surprised how bright they were and how they changed the look of the tattoo. At first I thought they over shadowed the elephant, but then I remembered it isn't filled in yet, so when that is done, it will jump out again and balance the whole thing. Now I am use to the colour I really like it, it has added a new dimension to the tattoo, when the elephant is shaded and his trim coloured, and the clouds are finished I think it will have an almost Hindi look to it (which will go well with the Hindi style elephant).
The last part of the session involved colouring some of the flowers. My next session is in a couple of weeks, then it will be all done

_________________Have you ever loved someone so much you didn't care what happened to yourself?
You Just had to be with them.
If they look at you, your heart stops.
If you feel their breath on your skin, you just ache.
Have you ever craved someone so much you didn't exist anymore?

Sounds good...as for the color if its not too dark you can always change your mind and have it greyed out to some extend so I think you made a good choice considering you were unsure.

Thanks Potter, that's what I thought as well...
The colour isn't too dark, and If I had of gone grey to begin with, I wouldn't have that option.

_________________Have you ever loved someone so much you didn't care what happened to yourself?
You Just had to be with them.
If they look at you, your heart stops.
If you feel their breath on your skin, you just ache.
Have you ever craved someone so much you didn't exist anymore?

Thanks Tigress, I'm really happy with how it is going.
For my next tattoo, I've decided that this side isn't quite finished yet, I want to add some more to it.
When that is done, I will start on the other arm, I've already got a fairly good idea what I want done and how I want it to look...
After that I'm thinking I would like to get a large Back piece done, A unicorn in a forrest, with sun breaking through from the clouds above, is what I am thinking at the moment.

_________________Have you ever loved someone so much you didn't care what happened to yourself?
You Just had to be with them.
If they look at you, your heart stops.
If you feel their breath on your skin, you just ache.
Have you ever craved someone so much you didn't exist anymore?

Here is a pic showing the colour that has been added. I have the final session today. When it is healed I will post pictures of the finished product.

_________________Have you ever loved someone so much you didn't care what happened to yourself?
You Just had to be with them.
If they look at you, your heart stops.
If you feel their breath on your skin, you just ache.
Have you ever craved someone so much you didn't exist anymore?

Had the final session yesterday, so it's all finished apart from a touch up here and there in about 5 weeks. It looks great, I'm super happy with how it looks.
The clouds that run across my shoulder were not really standing out how we wanted them to, so we did the outlines a little darker then finished off the flowers did a bit more shading here and there and finished off the elephant. Having had shading, colouring and outline all done on the same day, I can now definitely say that outlining hurts more (probably about 5 times worse than anything else).
The session itself went pretty quickly, apart from the part where I tensed up and decided to fight the pain (If anyone is getting a tattoo soon, probably best not to try this one as it makes things hurt more). So I had a break when he had to get out more colour and was fine after that.
I'll post pics soon... Now it's time to start planning the other side.

_________________Have you ever loved someone so much you didn't care what happened to yourself?
You Just had to be with them.
If they look at you, your heart stops.
If you feel their breath on your skin, you just ache.
Have you ever craved someone so much you didn't exist anymore?

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